To color human or animal hair using conventional oxidative dye technology, a mixture of suitable oxidative coloring agents and at least one oxidizing agent or developer, typically hydrogen peroxide, is commonly employed. Hair colorants based on oxidative dyes generally have two parts, i.e., a dye component and a developer component, each of which is ordinarily provided in a liquid or other fluid form, e.g., gel. Just before use, the dye and developer components are mixed together to form the colorant composition. The kits in which these components are provided include dye systems known as “box colorants”, which are generally formulated as single-use products. Box colorants include kits for home as well as salon use.
Carbonates are among the ingredients that have been disclosed for use in hair colorant compositions based on oxidative dyes. For example, carbonates have been disclosed for use as buffers or pH adjusters. As a buffer or pH adjuster, carbonates are used in relatively small amounts, typically not exceeding 1% by weight of the colorant composition after mixing. Other uses of carbonates in hair colorant compositions have been disclosed.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0019980, published Feb. 5, 2004, discloses a hair coloring composition comprising two compositions which are mixed just prior to application to the hair:                (a) a composition comprising a water-soluble peroxygen oxidizing agent; and        (b) a composition comprising one or more oxidative hair coloring agents selected from the group consisting of an aromatic diamine, an amino phenol, a naphthol, a polyhydric phenol, a catechol and mixtures thereof; wherein the composition comprising one or more oxidative hair coloring agents further comprises at least one water soluble carbonate releasing salt; and optionally a water soluble ammonium salt.In Example 1, hair coloring compositions having 1.0-5.0% by weight of water soluble carbonate releasing salt and 0-5.0% by weight of water soluble ammonium salt are disclosed.        
U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0189034, published Dec. 19, 2002, discloses a two-agent hair dyeing/bleaching composition comprising a primary agent containing an alkali agent and a secondary agent containing an oxidizing agent, wherein the primary agent contains: (a) at least one alkali agent selected from the group consisting of ammonia water and monoethanolamine, (b) at least one water-soluble ammonium salt selected from the group consisting of ammonium carbonate and ammonium hydrogencarbonate, and (c) at least one first pH adjuster selected from the group consisting of polycarboxylic acids and their salts. At paragraph 0026, it is disclosed that that the primary agent “preferably contains the alkali agent of component (a) at 1-25 wt. (where the ammonia water weight is expressed in terms of ammonia water at a concentration of 28 wt. %), the water-soluble ammonium salt of component (b) at 0.5-20 wt. % and the first pH adjuster component (c) at 0.1-10 wt. %.” At paragraph 0043 the application notes that the composition may additionally contain a hair dye when it is to be used as a “dyeing agent”.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0010865, published Jan. 22, 2004, discloses hair dye compositions having a pH of from 8.5-12 which comprise (A) ammonia or an ammonium salt, (B) a carbonate (other than an ammonium salt), (C) a transition metal salt, and (D) a chelating agent. The content of ingredients (A) and (B) in the composition are given as 0.01 to 3 mol/kg and 0.001 to 1 mol/kg, respectively. It is further disclosed that the compositions “do not give off an intensely irritating odor and have low irritating property, can change hair into a lighter tone in a short time or can dye hair well in a color ranging from a light color to a deep color, and moreover, assure good retention of the thus-obtained tone or color”.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0098814, published May 27, 2004 discloses a method for the gradual permanent coloring of hair through the use of daily hair care compositions. In the method therein described, the hair is contacted for a period of about 5 seconds to about 5 minutes with a recently prepared mixture of compositions referred to as Parts A and B. Part A is a dye composition in a shampoo or conditioner base at alkaline pH and Part B is a peroxide such as hydrogen peroxide in a conditioner or shampoo base at acidic pH. More particularly, Part A is a mixture of (I) a dye intermediate in a shampoo or conditioner base and a salt component (II) as therein more particularly described. The salt component II is a water soluble ammonium carbonate or carbamate salt at about 0.1% to about 15%, more preferably about 1% to about 10% or a combination of i) a water soluble carbonate releasing salt at about 0.1 % to about 15%, more preferably about 1% to about 10% and ii) a water soluble ammonium salt at about 0.1% to about 15%, more preferably about 1% to about 10%.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0098816, published May 27, 2004, discloses a method for the gradual permanent coloring of hair with longer lasting conditioning and with minimized hair damage through the use of daily hair care compositions. In the method therein described, hair is subjected to a number of treatments, having a set time interval between each two consecutive treatments, wherein each treatment comprises:                a) contacting the hair with a recently prepared mixture of a colorant composition comprising:                    A) an alkaline dye composition comprising:                            i) an effective amount to color hair of at least one dye intermediate;                ii) from about 0.1 to about 25% by weight based on the colorant composition of a water soluble ammonium carbonate or carbamate salt;                iii) from 1 to 5% by weight based on the colorant composition of a chelant; and                iv) a cosmetically acceptable carrier; and                                    B) an oxidizing composition comprising:                            i) from 0.1 to 15% by weight based on the coloring composition of a peroxide compound; and                ii) a cosmetically acceptable carrier; and                                                b) rinsing the mixture from the hair with water.        
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0237218, published Dec. 2, 2004, discloses hair coloring and bleaching compositions comprising:                i) at least one source of peroxygen monoalkanoate ions;        ii) at least one alkalizing agent, preferably a source of ammonium ions; and        iii) at least one radical scavenger, wherein said composition has a pH of up to 9.5, which compositions are disclosed as providing “high level of lift and lightening and the required dye deposition and grey coverage whilst reducing the concentration of peroxide, the ammonia odour and inducing the hair fibre damage.The application characterizes colorants that utilize an ammonia or alkanolamine alkalizer as typically having an optimal pH of about 10.0, stating: “This high pH is necessary in order to produce a sufficient concentration of the perhydroxy anion (HOO—) to give the desired bleaching of melanin. . . . However, . . . compositions having a high pH cause many of the disadvantages noted by consumers of these colourant systems. In particular the level of the volatile ammonia increases at high pH (above 9.5) giving increased unpleasant odour. Furthermore, reactive species including the perhydroxy anion reacts with the hair fibre resulting in significant fibre damage.” See paragraphs 0028 to 0030. The application discloses that the addition of a radical scavenger removes and/or reactivates which are referred to as “harmful carbonate radicals” and transforms them to “relatively harmless species”. The application discloses hair coloring compositions having a pH of up to and including 9.5. At paragraph 0062 the application states: “Preferably, the compositions of the present invention have a pH of fro about 9.5 to about 7.5, more preferably from about 9.5 to about 8.4 and most preferably from about 9.4 to about 8.5 and even more preferably about pH 9.0.” Exemplified by the application are hydrogen peroxide-containing formulations that contain from 2.0 to 8.0 wt. % of carbonate (as ammonium carbonate, potassium carbonate, or a combination thereof). Two of exemplified formulations, emulsion formulation 20, and thickened aqueous solution 10, both of which were reported to have been adjusted to a pH of 9.0, also contain 2.0 wt. % of hydroxypropyl starch phosphate. Thickened aqueous solution 10 lacked both a quaternary conditioning agent and fatty alcohol; emulsion 20 contained 3.0 wt. % Crodafos® CES (reported in the literature to be a mixture of cetearyl alcohol, dicetyl phosphate and ceteth 10 phosphate), but lacked a quaternary conditioning agent        
Owing to the instability of peroxide in the presence of base, the developer component of peroxide-based hair colorant systems or kits is normally formulated to an acidic pH. At acidic pHs, carbonates are susceptible to decomposition. Accordingly, when present, carbonates are generally formulated as part of the colorant system's dye component or “tint”, rather than its developer component. To minimize weight and the cost of additional ingredients needed to compensate for dilution effects, the amount of solvent provided to the dye component is generally kept relatively low. Solubility limitations and other formulation constraints limit the amount of carbonate that can be contained in the dye component of colorant composition systems. At levels in excess of about 6 percent by weight, carbonates tend to precipitate or “salt out” of the developer component and can give rise to other stability issues, e.g., breaking of emulsions, undesirable viscosity changes, and the like. The difficulty in formulating storage stable dye compositions containing high levels of carbonate salt is exacerbated when the dye composition further comprises at least 2 wt % of a fatty phase comprising fatty alcohol and conditioning quat.
Various materials have been suggested as rheology modifiers and emulsion stabilizers. The rheology modifying properties of a material are typically not predictive of the ability of a material to inhibit phase separation in high salt content compositions, particularly in emulsion compositions that comprise a fatty phase comprising a fatty alcohol and conditioning quat, particularly when the fatty phase is present in an amount of at least 2 wt. %, more particularly at least 4 wt. %. Finding an additive that inhibits. phase separation in high salt content dye compositions having such a fatty phase has long eluded formulators.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/025,295, filed Dec. 29, 2004, discloses that the use of relatively high levels of at least one ammonium carbonate salt in combination with relatively high levels of at least one additional soluble carbonate salt other than an ammonium carbonate salt, and a relatively high level of chelating agent provides colorant compositions having superior lift and dyeing properties. The difficulty in formulating high carbonate compositions is avoided through the use of a separate salt component. The application discloses coloring compositions comprising the following individual components, which components are combined just prior to application to the hair:                (a) a dye component comprising oxidation dye precursor,        (b) a developer component comprising peroxide-releasing compound, and        (c) a salt component comprising carbonate-releasing salt,wherein the dye, developer and salt components are formulated to provide the hair coloring composition with: (i) at least one ammonium carbonate salt and at least one additional soluble carbonate salt other than an ammonium carbonate salt, wherein the ratio, by weight, of ammonium carbonate salt to additional soluble carbonate salt is from about 1:0.6 to about 1:1.6, (ii) a total soluble carbonate salt content of greater than about 10% by weight, based on the combined weight of the dye, developer and salt components, and (iii) at least about 1% by weight of chelating agent, based on the combined weight of the dye, developer and salt components.        
It is an object of this invention to improve the storage stability of dye compositions comprising (a) oxidation dye precursor, (b) relatively high levels of carbonate salt, i.e., at least 8 weight percent, preferably at least 10 weight percent, and (c) a fatty phase comprising fatty alcohol and conditioning quat. It is yet another object of this invention to maximize the deposition of conditioning quat from hair colorants formed from such dye compositions. In at least one embodiment, it is yet a further object of this invention to provide a dye composition having a pH of at least 9.5, more particularly, in excess of 9.5.